Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving...surrounded by family and friends, it was perfect! First we went to Mema and Papa's house for dinner, then off to Grandma and Grandpa's for dessert. We really need to start investing in elastic banded pants for this big day....

The Reilly's, The Lanigan's, The Gigante's, The Kaufmann's, the Harris' and the Cheeseman's!

Three generations of Reillys!

This week we are keeping busyas usual with John working extra long days and dance class for Kaitlyn, etc. Skylar is going through an episode this week, so we are hoping and praying that she passes all the testing this week for her scheduled procedure on December 4th. Tuesday is John's birthday and Skylar has her pre-surgical testing. Wednesday Jennie is having a "gold" party at Mema's house where guests bring broken or mismatched jewelry to receive cash! We figure there's no better party than one leaving WITH money rather than spending it!

Stay tuned for pictures from John's birthday!

Rings on her Fingers, Tubes in her Ears!

Skylar had her follow up with the ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor on Tuesday. He confirmed she does have at least a 20% hearing loss and that tubes would help her tremendously. Considering she has had over 13 ear infections (in addition to her pulmonary issues) the past year, this was an easy decision for John and me. The procedure is scheduled for 12.4.07, pending blood work and clearance from her pediatrician. Please send healthy vibes our way! We don't want to have to reschedule!

Some pictures from the summer....Mema and Aunt Barbara (Mema's friend) took the girls to a local butterfly farm. They had a blast!

Tricks and Treats

First things first, PICTURES!!!!

Princess Fiona (the ogre Fiona...) and Tutti Frutti (the chiquita banana girl)

What an exciting day....if you're a kid! Kaitlyn had a party at school which Pop and Skylar got to attend. Then off to East Islip where they visited Grandma and Grandpa and Mema and Papa (thanks for the pictures Mema!). The girls had a great day, filled with LOTS of candy (boy did John and I have fun picking out our favorites!) and excitement. They ran from house to house! Kaitlyn got to give out the "treats" at Mema's house (who gets almost 200 treaters on this day!), but she had RULES. "And who are you?" well, the teenagers thought this was funny as they were standing in flannel pj pants filled with shaving cream! Then she would ask, "and what do you say?" I think the trick or treaters laughed more than we did!

Skylar vs. Witchcraft

Skylar had her first visit with the alternative medicine doctor on Friday.....I know that many of you may have been as skeptical as me, so let me give you an example of one of his patients.

A family friend's best friend stopped getting her period around age 20. She also suddenly had gained a large amount of weight. After seeing several doctors, she was told that her body was going through menopause and that they would try hormone therapy to trick her body to get back to its regular cycle. Dr. Capuano had a different theory (after he tested her); He said that her body was allergic to Vitamin A, Vitamin D and was actually allergic to her own hormones. Her body's reaction was to turn the Vitamins she was allergic to into fat, causing her to gain a sudden amount of weight. His practice is to reverse the allergy (that is where the skepticism plays a role). Within a short time, she lost all the weight and now has a regular cycle.....

With that said, John and I felt we had nothing to lose but to see what Dr. Capuano had to say about Skylar. He evaluates patients biomedically. To give you a picture, she had to hold a medal rod in her left hand that was connected to a machine, that made a pitch noise and had a meter reading. He sat facing Skylar and held two "pens" connected by a wire. He had THOUSANDS of vials (similar to what an apothecary's office would look like), each one containing a "reactor." As Skylar was holding the rod in her left hand, he would touch her right hand with one pen and hold the other pen over a vial. If the meter's pitch changed, then her body was reacting to a reactor (this type of alternative practice was founded in theh 1800s in Germany). After going through several hundred reactors, he determined her allergies to be:

wheat, gluten, dairy, salt, sugar, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, corn.

Essentially, everything that Skylar was eating, her body was allergic to. Her body's defense mechanism was to build mucus to protect itself and after similar testing (of her body parts) the only body part affected was her lungs. Again, to see this type of testing in his office is to believe it. It was (literally) awesome.

So now what?

He needs to reverse her allergies with a form of acupuncture (she is too small for needles). Since she has so many allergies, it will be a 3 step process. The first step, which was on Friday, was to reverse the salt and sugar allergy. After the acupuncture treatment, she was not permitted to touch or consume salt and sugar for 25 hours. This was the hard part! Try and tell your baby no milk bottles! Her diet consumed of only: meat, chicken, eggs and distilled water. NOT EVEN A BATH, since tap water has salt in it! Successfully (we think) we did it. God bless our little Skylar bean for being such a great patient. Let's hope the reversal worked. We have our next appointment on November 17th.......

Van Gogh....I mean Kaitlyn!

Miss Kaitlyn is an avid artist....she spends (with no exaggeration) about 3 hours each day coloring. We think she is getting really good and Aunt Kim said she is definitely ahead of her 2nd graders! Check these out!

Miss Skylar is going through another "episode" this week and back on steroids (on top of her singulair and nebulizer - 2 different meds - treatments). John and I re-evaluated her care and are opting to see a holistic doctor. We have our first appointment Friday and are anxious to experience the exam and treatment process. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and hope this little angel gets a break soon!

Fall is rockin' and rollin'!

Speaking of rolling......Kaitlyn is really trying to get rolling skating down pat. Since the weather was so great this weekend, she practiced all weekend! Skylar found this amusing too. Instead of being a supporting lil sis, she decided it would be more fun to push Kaitlyn, make her fall and then laugh so hard, she'd lose her breath. Kaitlyn on the other hand, didn't it find it so amusing. I guess being the mom, the right thing to do would be to tell Skylar to stop, and "not nice" but I guess I was too busy laughing too. Sorry Kaitlyn!

Mema had a great birthday weekend last week. Aunt Kimmie bought her a new kitten, who she quickly named "Martie" short for martini (Kimmie has a cat named, "Quila" short for tequila). Martie seems to be adjusting to the Lanigan household, and has quickly become a part of the family.

John has been very busy on the boat, working all weekend. We miss him! Let's see how fun it was for him.....bachelor party on Friday night resulting in a 350 lb man puking everywhere......last night the life raft blowing off the top deck because the water was so rough resulting in a man getting knocked in the head....and today trying to fix the generator and fuel filters. I think the girls' weekend definitely topped his!!! Don't worry, I did make one of his favorite dinners, Aunt Shirley's camp stew (we used the final canned goods she sent!), and brownies for dessert. And tomorrow night, another favorite, meatloaf! Don't worry, John, I won't make mashed potatoes!

Skylar's Recent Doctors Visits

Like March, September is in like a lion and out like a lamb. The heat and humidity are gone, and that means our roses are happy and blooming again!


A quick update on Miss Bean. On Friday, she visited the audiologist for a hearing exam. Although she does not have permanent hearing damage, she does not hear 100%. We were advised to follow up with our ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) for a thorough exam and to answer the "why" question. Then, over the weekend, Skylar developed (yet another!) double ear infection....which resulted in a visit to the pediatrician Monday morning. We were also lucky to get an appointment with the ENT this morning, so we got answers quickly! The ENT, who happens to be friends with our OB/GYN, recommended that Skylar get tubes in her ears, which is a very inevasive, common procedure. The only glitch is that she needs to be put under anesthesia, and with her pulmonary issues, she will need special attention. John and I are comfortable with this answer, since we think she deserves special attention anyway! We are confident that this procedure will result in many positive outcomes including less discomfort, less frequent ear infections, draining of her sinus cavity and more sleep (for her AND us!). By the way, 24 hours of antibiotics and she is more than back to normal, learning a new trick! She can take all the toilet paper off the roll, put it in the toilet and flush (or at least try to get it to flush). This new trick is particularly fun for John and I since we get to unclog the bowl often. And for those of you who are thinking "why not just shut the door" - good try. She's learned to open doors too. Looks like we'll be child-proofing even more this weekend!



Kaitlyn is of course doing a great job as big sister. Tonight, as i was trying to give Skylar her medicine, Kaitlyn suggested that i pretend to give it to her and then Skylar will want some. Well, it worked. Skylar took the antibiotic like i would do a shot of tequila! Thanks Toots!

PS - for those interested, I applied for "Design on a Dime" on HGTV for our living room! Wish me luck!